EP36: Christiane Pelmas on Menopause, Sexuality, and an Emerging Archetype of Womanhood

What Christiane Shares:

– her personal experiences with her cycle, abortion, perimenopause and menopause—and the intelligence of these initiations

– how her experience with menopause informed major decisions in her life including her living arrangement with her partner, her pace, her work in the world

– the potential for whole listening, erotic sex, generative power and a QUEEN existence from our menopausal years and its deep purpose globally

What You Will Hear:

– Christiane shares her own menstrual and perimenopausal cycle and the significance of discussing in our culture, her relationship to her cycle

– Kimberly shares about aging and the wishing she had known the wisdom of her cycle earlier

– Realizing the empowering and embodying experience of birth and breastfeeding more deeply once reaching perimenopause

– Giving bleeding the respect it deserves, the products we use to disguise menstruation, and what this says to our youth

– How this lack of respect affects women today regarding fertility, inability to reach orgasm, painful periods

– Why Kimberly challenges modern Postpartum Depression, her own personal story of “Russian Roulette’’ when it came to having a child

– The blindspot around birth control and our daughters (including those who are ‘sex positive’ or in wellness profession)

– What Christiane comes across in her practice, the messaging around perimenopause and menopause

– Christiane shares her personal story with abortion, fertility and birth/postpartum experiences, and menopause

– Description of menopausal rite of passage and initiatory shift from Christiane’s experience and perspective, sending children out into the world and circulating Kundalini, orgasmic experience, fire and warriorship that is born when bleeding stops and it’s offering to the world

– Christiane challenges the mainstream advice of moving into quiet, self care hibernation and calls women at this time the ‘warrior class’ and potential ‘enemies of the state’ meant to bring necessary change toward the feminine

– Why regardless if a woman stays in her relationship the old must die and what looks like ‘falling apart’ is actually refinement and a new expression of self

– How even holistic doctors are treating menopause (much like pregnancy) as a series of symptoms rather than of initiatory experiences

– Christiane’s experience with Holistic and Functional Medicine care and bioidentical hormones during a difficult last year and despite great results to cease care and listen to an internal voice saying “this is not for you”

– The small yet ‘radical’ lifestyle changes she made to accommodate her body

– The vast potential of pleasure beyond clitorial stimulation available to women before during and after menopause, the ridiculousness of the word ‘foreplay’, the potential to enjoy sex beyond menopause and the exploration

– The ‘cougar’ metaphor Christiane’s and Kimberly’s perspective

– “Is sex better now?”

– How we’ve learned to silence our longing, or made wrong our dissatisfaction is actually the most important information to listen to especially during menopausal years

– Christiane shares about the importance of ‘whole listening’ and how and where to resource this and the courage to act on it, our place historically as a female population

– The inspiration for her podcast OneWoman Radio

 

References:

https://www.christianepelmas.com/

https://www.onewoman.org/

http://www.susunweed.com/WiseWomanHerbals.htm#meno